Chapter 19: No Name With Us

The next morning the Council sat in full, and Father's name stood second on the order paper.

I took the seat Corwin had given me in the gallery, between the Registrar and a Guard.

The hall was packed to the doors.

Father sat among the senior officials with his chin up and his pin straight.

Mother was not beside him. I did not look for her.

The Speaker had barely begun the reading when the great doors opened.

Every head turned.

The man who walked in was broad, gray-bearded and about sixty.

He wore a plain brown coat and a cedar token on a cord at his throat.

I knew that scent from the first week of my engagement.

"The Alpha of Ironridge," the doorkeeper called, and his voice went thin.

The Ironridge Alpha walked the length of the hall without hurrying.

Behind him, between two Ironridge wolves, came Garrick.

He wore the same plain coat and no insignia.

A cedar token hung at his own throat, and he did not meet anyone's eyes.

"Your Majesty," the Alpha said, and bowed to the dais. "Honored Council. I ask the floor for a Pack matter."

"You have it," Corwin said.

The Alpha turned to Garrick.

"This man was born in my Pack. I sent him to the Guard, and I was proud."

"Three days ago I learned that for five years he lay in a bed in Southbay, writing to nobody."

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